Mel Stute to Return Home After Hospital Stay

Retired trainer Mel Stute will be discharged from a rehab facility in Pomona, Calif., Dec. 29, according to his son, trainer Gary Stute.

The elder Stute, 85, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles Dec. 7 with a head injury after falling in his home.

"He bumped his head pretty hard and there was a little bleeding into the brain," said Stute's wife, Annabelle.

Stute, best known as the trainer of 1986 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) winner and champion 3-year-old male Snow Chief, won three training titles at Betfair Hollywood Park, where he ranks seventh on the all-time list with 575 wins. He won the spring/summer stand in 1983 and led the autumn meet two years in a row (1984-1985).

He was credited with his 2,000th lifetime victory Dec. 11, 2010, and has had no starters in 2012, according to Equibase.